


Love is Healing

by DevilRising



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Established Relationship, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Past Abuse, Post-Second War with Voldemort, Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:47:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24959371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevilRising/pseuds/DevilRising
Summary: Draco reflects back on how his life became what it is, and how love (or the previous lack of it) played into it.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 5
Kudos: 51





	Love is Healing

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt set by @champagnemonarch on tumblr, who I love. Thank you for the prompt Xx

To Draco, love has always been a very important part of his life. Especially once he had arrived at Hogwarts for the first time when he was eleven, and had found people who truly cared about him; people as unlike his father as imaginable. Yes, his mother loved him dearly, but she wasn’t great at showing it. There were multiple restrictions and terms to that love of hers, all of which prevented Draco feeling like she actually cared. So while he held that love close to his chest, at times it felt a bit hollow—a bit one sided.

His friends were better at it than his parents. Crabbe and Goyle may have seemed like goons or bodyguards to people outside of Slytherin, but those who knew them knew that that wasn’t the case. They knew that the three of them were very close. But even so, they held back slightly. The boys were in the same boat as Draco for most of their lives, listening to their fathers and trying to keep their heads above the ever rising water. After Vincent had died, Greg had never been the same. Draco knew that there was more between them than they publicly let on, and his heart broke not only for the loss of Crabbe, but also for what—or rather, _who_ —he left behind. Even so, before the Battle they hadn’t loved Draco fully. They had chosen their parents over him, and he can’t really blame them for it. He still yearns for their friendship sometimes, years after it all ended in flames. 

Pansy and Blaise came next. They were the closest he ever got to being loved unquestioningly. They had stood by his side, and guided him through his young adulthood. He’d finished schooling with them, helping each other complete Eighth Year without falling under the pressure. They were the first people he’d come out to; the first people he felt safe to tell. And he was right. They had approved whole-heartedly, and their friendship had only grown stronger. But then they’d moved away. Pansy was off chasing her dreams of modeling in Italy, and Blaise was in France with his tragically ill step-mother. Neither had much time left for Draco now. They had loved him until life pulled them apart. 

But Harry. Harry is so different to those other people. Unlike the whispers of love he’d received from them, Harry poured everything he had out into Draco. With each lingering touch of a hand, each feverish kiss, Draco fell more completely in love. 

Everything between them had started off kilter. When they first met at eleven, Draco was still the prat who believed the world would bow down at his feet. He was still the boy who was trying to please his father as much as possible, hoping for a small smile aimed in his direction for once. Harry had still been the underfed, abused boy he’d become with the Dursleys. He knew nothing about the world he’d just discovered, and thought he’d finally found the escape he was after. Until he met Draco. The two had clashed immediately, Draco being too proud to accept the young Harry, and hurt when his proffered friendship was refused. Harry had confessed later that that made the Wizarding World less appealing than it had been, as it reminded him of Dudley. Draco had broken down and apologised all night to Harry when he’d found out.

It wasn’t until after the War, when everything had begun to calm down, that they’d managed to reconnect. Draco was no longer the arrogant sod who believed he was royalty. He felt awful for the things he had done in the past, and he had reached out via an apology letter. Really, he knew he should have said it in person, but something about confronting the now-man who had been the center of his younger years was terrifying. Nonetheless, Harry had responded with forgiveness; and an invitation for brunch. Draco had been flabbergasted, totally unsure as to what was happening. Alone in the world and aching for friendship or communication of any kind, he’d accepted.

That first meeting had morphed into many more very quickly. Harry had changed so much so that he was nearly unrecognizable to Draco. That in itself was a feat, given how long Draco had spent following him around when he was younger. At twenty four years old, he had thought he’d been able to get over the man and move on with his life. That has proved incorrect though. Harry invited Draco out again, and he couldn’t help it; he accepted. The second time they met up, it had been for a swim at the lake near Harry’s (now old) house. The sun had been warm and lovely, and Draco had stared up at it through his closed eyelids. He had delighted in the red and orange swirls behind them while Harry had swam through the clear lake. It had been beautiful, and Draco had felt like maybe they could actually be friends. 

After that, invitations had become less formal. Draco had casually—and coincidently, no matter what Hermione might say about it now—run into Harry multiple times in Diagon Alley, and each one had ended up with plans for another day out together. Eventually, Harry had asked Draco on a date. An actual date, with no intention of a joke behind it. Draco had been confused, wondering why the Saviour of the Wizarding World could possibly want _him_ , The Death Eater. Harry had reminded Draco that that wasn’t who he truly was, and that the man who sat on the shore instead of swimming was who he truly was. The man who held love so close to his heart yet wasn’t given any in return was who he truly was. He’d told Draco that he was never The Death Eater, but was instead a very misguided, and misunderstood boy. Draco had agreed to go on the date. 

Many years later, and Harry is still asking Draco out. It isn’t to prove that Draco has changed, as they both know it now. No, now it’s because Harry loves seeing Draco smile. And Draco, who is now very much in love with Harry bloody Potter, can not find it in himself to refuse even a single one. Harry proposed to Draco last year, right before they’d both turned thirty. The Wizarding World had gone insane at the news, and Draco had wanted to sink into the shadows. But Harry had held his hand and kissed the side of his head, and led him into the light. 

In a somewhat twisted way, Draco is very glad he was brought up without love in the way he wanted it. If he’d never yearned for that connection to someone else, he wouldn’t have been able to reconnect with Harry. Harry, who is now one of many people who love Draco. Not only does he love Draco, but he loves him unconditionally. With each whisper of the words, Draco feels his soul being knit back together. He feels the past erased from his body, even if it stays lingering in his mind. He doesn’t want to forget the War and his role in it. He only wants for Harry to hold him in his arms and know about it, and forgive him for it. Love is the most healing medicine of them all, and now that Draco has finally married Harry, he understands why it was love which saved the world. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos and Comments keep me writing


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